Improved mode of curing tobacco



PETER BAUOH, OF SOUTH LEBANON TOWNSHIP, LEBANON COUNTY, PA.

PATENT OEEI'cE IMPROVED MODE OF CURING TOBACCO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. L16,387, dated February 14, 1865.

To aZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, PETER RAUcH, of South Lebanon township, Lebanon county, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved Mode of Ventilating and Regulating the Curing of Tobacco; and I do hereby declare'the following to be an exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in pressing tobacco in the center of Ventilating-boxes and packing grass or wet straw in the spaces fo'r the purpose of expediting the curing of tobacco.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the construction of the boxes andthe mode of operating them, as follows:

Figure I represents a top View of the three boxes with the lids open. Fig. 2 representsa side sectional view of the three boxes; Eig. 3, a side elevation of the outside box and its sliding lid; Fig. 4, a top view of the inside box, exhibiting its perforated bottom and slides; Fig. 5, a side sectional view of the inside box with its perforated sides and slides.

A is the outside box, with hinged top, perforated, and having slides B at top, also perT forated, for the purpose of regulating the ventilation of the interior of the box.

C is the inside box, raised below to allow the air to pass under. It is perforated on all its four sides, and has also perforated slides D on the inside and on the bottom for regulating the ventilation. These side slides, D, are to be made to operate'laterally or vertically across their corresponding apertures.

E is the close center box, made of hard wood, oak or walnut boards, about a half-inch in thickness, with a strong adjustable lid, F, made to operate as a press. A cross-brace, G, is above the center of the box E, and has alever and screw j, to operate the lid, so as to be used as a press. In this tight box E, that is not perforated, I place the tobacco-leaves in layers,

and when the boxis lled I press them down for the purpose of curing the tobacco. I lay the tobacco butt-ends to the ends of the box, and after having three or four layers upon each other I then place a layer along the sides of the box butt-ends together, for the purpose of confining the tobacco as closely as possible, so as to retain all its heat and prevent the heat from v escaping. After the tobacco-stalks have been cut and taken from the field and hung up to dry, as usual, some three or four months, and then taken down and piled in layers, as usual, with the butt-ends out, so as to dry the buttends, say for two or three weeks longer, then it is ready to be packed in my center tight box or press, for the purpose of being well curedviz., to retain its strength, flavor, and color. In about six or ten days after the tobacco has been packed and pressed it then becomes heated, and by my Ventilating-boxes I regulate the heating or curing process for about twenty days, for the purpose of preventing the tobacco from becoming moldy'or spoiled and to cure it more carefully and hastily. Tobacco has heretofore required a years time to be made t for market and use; but by this my mode I cure it completely with all its richness and have it ready for use and market in a few months. f

For the purpose of heating the inside center box, E, in six or ten days, I pack grass, wet leaves, wet straw or chaff, or any moistened vegetable substances in the spaces between the outside and inside boxes, A and C, and under the Ventilating-box C, and as soon as I discover that the tobacco has become suffciently heated in the center box, E, IA then regulate the ventilation by the slides D and B of the boxes C and A to cool the center box, and the curing process is then certain and effectual. If I use only the outside box, A, with the center box, E, and dispense with box C, and I discover that the center box, E, is becoming too much heated by the packing, (leaves, &c.,)

' I then remove the leaves or packing from press- `ing too tightly against the center box, E, sufiiciently to allow the air to pass round the center box.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The mode and manner of regulating and Ventilating the curing oftobacco by the single or double Ventilating-boxes and packing, as v herein described, and for the purposes set forth.

PETER RAUCH. v

Witnesses:

D. K. SPAYD, Jos. LIGHT. 

